Raw food / dry food / changing

[puginamug]

We are bringing our puppy home next week.

So far he has been fed on a raw food diet which the breeder has recommended continuing.

To be honest, we don't have the freezer space and it looks a really expensive option.

I've also read that vets don't recommend it.

How do I change him over to something else. Our cats currently have dry food only.

Does a dog need a combination of wet and dry? Can they just have dry?

This feels like baby led weaning all over again!

Cat the Vet has some good advice on feeding. Have a read, chat with your vet as well, any dietary changes have to be done very slowly so as not to upset the dog.

www.catthevet.com/not-all-pet-foods-are-equal/
www.catthevet.com/whats-bowl-guide-confusing-world-pet-food-choices/

Your pup will be fine on dry but you’ll have to get some raw just to transition or poor pup will have an upset stomach. The usual advice is to transition over a few days so have the first day as 75% old food, 25% new then increase to 50/50 then 25% old food, 75% new food then all new food. You might have to adjust the pace if your pups tummy is upset by the change.

There’s a lot of debate about what kind of kibble to use - and just like with babies there is a lot of judging what other people do. Some people like a more natural diet with no grains and others prefer to use one of the big brands that do test their formulations on real dogs to make sure they meet nutritional needs. There’s a lot of bollocks written and very little actual science. But dogs have been hanging around humans for thousands of years and can basically eat most things we eat so don’t over think it.

Our dog is on dry. I add warm water to it and let it soften a bit.
Check out allaboutdogfood.co.uk for good brands. I'm using Guru which has a good score and it works out pretty cheap too which is a bonus!

We’ve got a pup on raw food. I’m happy with the raw so far and will carry on probably. But my understanding is that if you want to switch to dry you need to do it ‘cold turkey’ as raw and cooked foods are digested differently. The exception being if you get cold-pressed dry (like Guru as mentioned by the pp) which can be eaten alongside raw. Cold pressed isn’t processed at very high temps like normal kibble, so is suitable to feed alongside. I second the recommendation to look at ‘allaboutdogfood’ - if you put in your dog’s details it’ll give you cost per day as well as the nutritional rating.

The problem with Allaboutdogfood is that it is not run by a qualified veterinary nutritionist. Sure the guy has a zoology degree and worked in the industry as a nutritionist but despite his passion he’s not qualified to score products in the way he does. The reality is that there are very few companies which employ qualified vet nutritionists and fewer still which test their products but people will always knock these products because ‘big kibble’ and because they use more byproducts aka the most nutritious parts of the animal.

Oh, and in answer to your question about whether a dog can just have dry, yes they can. If it’s a ‘complete’ food then they will get everything they need from it. My mum’s dog just has a dry food. A couple of friends have found that their dogs went off the dry food so they mix wet food with the kibble to make it more appealing!

I should add that everyone wants to do the best for their animals and there are many ways to do that. Other people’s choices aren’t a criticism of your decision and vice versa.

That’s interesting @thecapitalsunited. Yes I was reading about his background and the scoring does look a bit arbitrary. Take with a pinch of salt then! I found it useful for getting my head round all the options though.

Yes, I used it as well to get an idea of what I wanted but as you say took it with a pinch of salt. My boy is on a mix of raw and Costco kibble so I basically ignore my own advice to use one of the kibble companies who test 😂

I haven’t gone for grain free because there’s a link to heart problems. It’s probably what is used in place of the grain causing the issue but at this moment no one knows for sure.

You would be far better keeping the dog on raw than putting it in crappy kibble. There are no good kibbles frankly. Either do what's best for your dog or return it to the breeder and accept having a dog isn't for you.

Thank you, I shall investigate.

The cats currently have Iams or James Wellbeloved and they're fine on those.

It's really not as expensive as people think. I feed two large dogs (GSD and greyhound) and it costs about £15 per week for both of them for complete foods are easy to feed. DIY can be cheaper but more work for you.

Vets don't like it because they don't know a lot about it - it's not taught at vet school. Also vets are often paid/sponsored by the food company they offer in their waiting room. They rarely offer raw there.

If you do decide to swap then cold turkey is the only way to go. Kibble and raw are digested at different rates so shouldn't be fed together. Maybe mix in some wet tinned dog food so that the texture is similar. The pup won't be used to the dryness of the kibble. And give lots of water - raw is full of moisture so your pup won't be used to drinking huge amounts - you may need to encourage them at first.

@thecapitalsunited ah so you obviously find mixing raw and dry doesn’t cause your dog any issues? When I ordered my puppy pack the raw food company were adamant nothing else should be fed alongside, not even cold-pressed - but they have a huge interest in that don’t they! Maybe I should ask them for the evidence for that next time I speak to them! Hadn’t heard that about grain-free, that’s interesting.

@Candlestickchic No issues at all. I mean he eats poo if he can get it likes it’s a great delicacy so I can’t imagine what mixing raw and dry would do. I don’t really buy into anything which professes a natural ‘wolf-like’ diet mostly because dogs have been hanging around us long enough to digest grains just fine.

Vets do understand a raw diet, good vets have read a lot about it and continue to read about it as new research is released, there are also veterinary nutritionists out there. They don't like it for every dog as it won't suit every dog and, if it's done wrong, there's horrible bacterial infections in both the dog and the human making everyone sick.

If you go raw you really need to go to a PFMA (Pet Food Manufacturers Association) registered supplier. Of the hundreds of raw food suppliers in the UK, only 11 of them are registered. To be registered and approved they have to follow strict guidelines. Read more here: www.pfma.org.uk/raw-feeding-factsheet

dogsdinner2.webs.com/
There's lots of information on this website about raw feeding and how to do properly. Dogs are carnivorous so it is their natural diet. There's also a bit about why raw and kibble shouldn't be mixed.

True, I guess dogs ate table scraps of all sorts before ‘pet food’ was invented.
What I do know is that if I spent as much time considering my own diet as I have done my dog’s, then I really would be a lot slimmer and healthier!

@puginamug

Thank you, I shall investigate.

The cats currently have Iams or James Wellbeloved and they're fine on those.

You won't go far wrong with James well beloved with a little bit of wet food mixed In to cheer it up. My dog loves and thrives on it

OP It happens with most puppy's you tend to change the diet once they are home with you. Change over gradual with a bit of kibble mixed in with raw. Dogs are a long way removed from wolves and don't have to eat raw there are plenty of good quality dry foods out there.